Do Your Employees Follow You on Social Media?

Janine Popick writes and speaks on topics related to marketing, small business and entrepreneurship and is an active adviser and investor. From basement to boardroom…back to basement, she is now a co-founder, investor and CMO of Dasheroo, business dashboards for every business in the world. She also founded VerticalResponse (now a Deluxe company), provider of online marketing services to small business in 2001 and was the CEO until it was acquired in 2013. She has been a frequent Inc. contributor since 2007 and She's been featured in USA Today, TIME, Forbes, Businessweek, TechCrunch and Social Media Today. Janine was named 2010 Small Business Person of the Year in San Francisco by the U.S. SBA, and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist from 2006-2009.

I treat Facebook and Twitter pretty differently – I use Twitter (@janinepopick) for business and Facebook for both. I am somewhat selective when it comes to whom I accept as a Facebook friend. But with Twitter, I think the more followers, the better. If you follow me on Twitter, I pretty much set the scene for what I’ll be posting.

I allow my employees to friend me on Facebook if they’d like. I don’t get too crazy on Facebook, but you might find more personal posts from me from time to time. I post for business there, as well.

And I won’t say that I’m ‘Big Brother,’ but if people who friend me post, I see it in my newsfeeds and in my Twitter stream. It can be a great way to get to know your employees (to the extent they let you) and find out a bit more about their lives outside the company, which can be a positive.

Of course, you might also uncover how they are feeling about their jobs and your company; positive or negative, it’s still good for you to know. Hopefully they’re all positive, but there’s always a possibility that you’ll come across a post or tweet that may put your business in a bad light.

If you do find that you’re bothered by an employee’s negative post, and he or she is defaming your company, talk with him or her and ask how you can work together to make it better. Show that you’re open to discussion. You may have just opened up a door that the person was afraid to. Look at it in a positive light; that post may lead to changes that will make your company a better place.

Do you let your employees follow you on Facebook or Twitter? Where do you draw the line? I’d love to hear how it’s working for you!